1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances used for room decoration. In particular, the present invention is an appliance useful in placing floor covering and/or carpeting along the bottom edge of a wall of a room in a residence or the floor of commercial space.
2. History of the Invention
With the increase of fuel costs different efforts have been made to reduce the costs of heating buildings. This is especially true in buildings used for residence purposes and in buildings used for commercial space, such as office space. One approach is to increase the insulation placed in the walls and ceilings and to use materials with more and/or improved insulation characteristics.
It has been found that carpeting, used as a floor covering, has both insulation and beauty characteristics. The insulation characteristics are both against heat and/or cold transfer and sound transfer.
In many houses and in fine hotels the walls of the rooms are generally finished at the floor line by a wood base board, and carpeting is most often run up against or under this base board. The wood base board serves several purposes. One of these purposes is to protect the wall at the base of the wall.
In cheaper hotels, motels and in commercial space, the wood base board is most often eleminated and a strip of carpeting is placed against the wall to protect the wall at its base. The top edge of this strip of carpeting is capped with a capping strip. This capping strip has a small hood on its upper edge which captures and holds the edge of the carpeting and both holds the carpeting in place and finishes off the edge of the carpeting.
The capping strip, which may be considered a molding, is secured to the wall prior to placing carpeting against the wall and under the cap of the strip material. The use of a capping strip finishes off the floor covering and provides an easy way of removing the carpeting when replacement is necessary.
However in installing the strip of floor carpeting, the edges of the carpeting are cut straight and the strip cap is installed on the wall at an uniform distance or height above the floor. The problem of cutting the carpeting is solved in any of several different ways however, installation of the capping strip on the wall at an uniform height or distance above the floor presented problems.
One method of installation of the capping strip on the wall is to mark a line on the wall as a guide and secure the strip cap on the wall according to the mark on the wall.
When using a mark on the wall, the mark may be made either with a chalk line or snap line or by using a series of height marks and join the height marks into a solid line along the wall.
The use of a chalk line or snap line is quick, convenient and provides a straight line. The problem of using a chalk line arises when the floor is not level. If the floor is not level, such as the floor sinking or rising between corners of the room, the chalk line although straight will not be at an uniform height above the floor. Another problem is the use of the line itself on the wall. When using a wall line as a guide to install the strip cap, since the strip cap is a length of material, one must install the strip over the line or under the line. Installing the strip cap over the line makes a straight installation very difficult since one can not lay a strip material over a line, and still see the line. If the strip material is installed on the wall under the line then a visible mark on the wall remains after installation of the strip.